Trade Protectionism Cannot Save the American Automobile Industry

Last weekend, nearly 200 members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to President Obama, accusing China of a number of auto parts policies resulting in an "unfair competitive advantage," and demanding that the U.S. government use existing laws to protect the U.S. auto industry and job opportunities. These members demanded that the newly established inter-departmental trade law enforcement agencies use Chinese auto parts as the main target.

For some time now, the U.S. government has worked closely with the National Assembly on trade issues with China. It has first established cross-sector trade law enforcement agencies targeting China and other emerging market countries. It has subsequently changed the anti-subsidy law to impose punitive tariffs on products from China and other countries. Create conditions.

Washington’s series of actions have the anxiety of the US economy and the political background of the election year. Of the 200 or so lawmakers who wrote to Obama, most of them are Democrats from areas related to the US auto industry. In the eyes of some US politicians, the economic problem of higher unemployment rate is attributed to China's mere political show.

After the Obama administration came to power, it injected huge amounts of money to save the American auto industry on the verge of bankruptcy. The American automobile industry has already reached the critical moment of survival through reform. The sensible approach can only be to improve competitiveness through reforms. Those companies in the United States that can stand up to the world rely on competitiveness. Trade protectionism can't save the American auto industry.

The pattern of the auto parts industry is the result of the adjustment of the international industrial structure brought about by the development of economic globalization and is the inevitable outcome of the large-scale and widest international division of labor cooperation. The import of inexpensive and high-quality auto parts products meets the needs of the U.S. market, benefits the vast majority of U.S. consumers, and is conducive to alleviating inflation. It is a necessary supplement to the U.S. economic development and industrial restructuring. In addition, the ever-closer Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations have also created a large number of job opportunities for the United States and brought tangible benefits to the American people. Wanxiang Group, China's largest auto parts company, has invested in nearly 30 projects in the United States, creating nearly 5,000 jobs for the United States.

The in-depth development of economic globalization is bound to have a rebalancing of interests. In the process of rebalancing, there is competition, cooperation and mutual benefit. No matter how strong the US economy is, it is impossible to rely on trade protectionism to control all industries. There is a reason for this: Without the economic level of a developing country like China, there can be no sustained development of developed countries and economic globalization.

For a long time, the United States imported a large amount of high-quality, low-cost products from China, which has increased the actual spending power and living standards of the American people and helped the U.S. economy maintain growth. Maintaining the overall development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is conducive to a win-win situation between China and the United States, and is also in the fundamental interests of the American people. Because of the domestic political considerations in the United States that interfere with the overall economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States, it will ultimately harm the common interests of the people of both China and the United States, including the American people.